So my husband picked me up from my mothers house (I had been visiting most of the day) to take me on our Labor Day Weekend away with his parents. I knew something was wrong when our roommate stumbled out of his car, obviously very drunk. I asked my husband if he'd been drinking and he told me no, and that he was fine. Satisfied with his answer, I got into the car and we drove off.
My next warning came when I noticed the brightly colored cans that littered the floor of the car. "It's just energy drinks, babe." My husband had assured me, but I knew better. Shortly after I noticed how badly he was swerving on the road. Again he came up with an excuse that a lot of people had their brights on and it was hard to see... I demanded to be let out of the car at the next gas station.
My complaints were ignored but eventually I convinced him to stop at a McDonalds to eat. My plan was that once I was out of the car, I would call my mom to come get me. It was close to midnight by the time we pulled over at the gas station.
I immediately went inside and called my mom to explain the situation. I gave her directions to the McDonalds 45 minutes away from her home. When I got outside, our situation had become even worse. My husband had left the car keys with our drunk roommate while he went to the bathroom, and the drunk roommate locked them in the car.
After getting into a yelling match with my husband, I called roadside assistance. Hearing sirens off in the distance, I was told it would be two hours before someone could make it out to us... 2am. To make matters worse, my mother got lost in the middle of nowhere after driving to a completely different town thirty minutes away from where we were. Not wanting her to get lost worse, since it was now 1am and she had work in the morning, I apologized and asked her to just drive home, I would meet her there when the tow truck arrived.
By this time our roommate had gotten advise from one of the gas station workers to call the police to help us. He asked to borrow my phone, still drunk with his locked in the car, to call the cops. I of course turned him down, remembering the open beer cans in the car and obvious smell of alcohol on his breath.
He kept insisting and actually flagged down an officer while I was using the bathroom. By this time, I had come out... The officer asked if they had been drinking and asked about the cans in the car. I could feel my stomach sinking until she asked who had been driving. Knowing the consequences would be less severe for me, I offered myself as the driver. I told her she could test my breath for alcohol, as I didn't ever drink anyways, but she said that wasn't necessary.
She informed us we could get a citation for the beer cans but could tell we had a rough night and was going to let us go. Just then our roadside assistance showed up to save the day, but now we had a bigger problem. Our lady officer sat in the McDonalds with two other police, making it a point to watch us drive away.
This should be fine, right? I mean, I haven't been drinking... Except I didn't know how to drive a stick. Defeated, tired and upset... We argued outside of the restaurant for another 45 minutes while the cops watched us before giving up and walking two miles to the nearest hotel.
So that was my night and honestly I feel blessed. In some ways I believe God was looking out for us that night. My husband was swerving so bad, who knows if we would have ever made it to his parents house. Little miracles happen in all sorts of ways... But this whole situation could've been avoided if people would just remember not to drink and drive.
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